1871.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
177 
whole year of feeding, ami one year's interest 
on the large capital he has invested in stock. 
He wants only a thorough-bred bull, and thinks 
he can afford to pay any price which is neces- 
furrow-wheel (the foremost one), which is made 
to turn to the right or to the left by the move- 
ment of the long lever over the middle of the plow, 
so that the furrow may be made more or less 
Fig. 1.— ENGLISH DOUBLE-FURROW PLOW. 
sary to get him. The high prices for these ani- 
mals will only continue as long as farmers find 
it for their interest to buy them. The several 
breeds of cattle meet real wants among farmers 
who desire them for ordinary purposes. The 
demand will probably continue as long as beef, 
milk, butter, and cheese' are eaten; as 
long as oxen are used upon the farm. 
It is the most thrifty and skillful farmers 
that invest in thorough-bred animal?. 
It is altogether probable that they under- 
stand their own interests. 
The English Double-furrow Plow. 
Plows to cut two furrows at once — or 
two plows attached to one frame— are 
not a novelty ; but their construction has 
recently been so much improved in 
England, as to create quite a general sen- 
sation among the farmers of that country, 
and to promise such advantages as to 
make it well worth our while to investigate 
the matter in earnest. It is claimed — and the 
claim is based on practical use — that with one 
of these double-furrow plows, one man and 
three horses will do the work of two men and 
four horses under the single-furrow system — ef- 
deep, or the direction changed by the plowman. 
By taking off the plow from the right-hand 
beam, and substituting a subsoil plow for it, we 
turn a single furrow, and subsoil the furrow of 
the last bout — with the great advantage that the 
subsoil track is never trodden by the team ; it is 
Berkshire vs. Chester White Pigs. 
A breeder of Chester "White swine in Iowa 
takes exceptions to the remark of a " Western 
Farmer," as given in 
"Walks and Talks on 
the Farm," in the 
Agriculturist for De- 
cember. Speaking of 
the grand show of pigs 
at the Illinois State 
Fair, this prominent 
Western Farmer said : 
" The Berkshires were 
decidedly the best ani- 
mals. The Magee and 
Chesters were out in 
large force, but they 
were too coarse, and, 
moreover, lacked uni- 
formity." From this, 
and the remarks of 
"Walks and Talks." 
our correspondent 
concludes that both these gentlemen are 
breeders of Berkshires. Such is not the case. 
Neither of these gentlemen breed Berkshires 
for sale, and could have no other than disinter- 
ested motives for speaking of them as they did. 
The readers of the American Agriculturist 
DOUBLE-FURROW PLOW AS SUBSOILER. 
Fig. 1.— HOME-MADE HARROW. 
fecting a saving of one-half the wages and one- 
fourth the horse keep — enough to turn the 
scale between profit and loss on many an acre. 
The engraving, figure 1, shows the con- 
struction of the implement so clearly that ex- 
planation is hardly needed. The beams are 
"expanding," to regulate the width of the cut 
of the rear plow. The wheels stand obliqncly 
(a novelty), so as to counteract the tendency of 
the plow to run to land — allowing the draft to 
be more direct than in the ordinary plow. The 
depth of the cut is regulated by the left-hand 
lever, which is held in place by a ratchet. The 
direction of the movement is regulated bv the 
immediately covered by the furrow from the left- 
hand plow. Fig. 2 shows such an arrangement. 
» « — 1 » ■ » 
A Home-made Harrow. 
M. W. L. Durand, Derby, Conn., sends us a 
model of a harrow which he 
has made for his own use, and 
which he thinks will be found 
convenient by those who still 
use the old-fashioned A har- 
row. The timber used by Mr. 
D. is 3'| 4 x 4-inch white oak, 
but the size of both timber and 
teeth can be varied according 
to the work to be done. The 
engraving will show the struc- 
ture, the only peculiarity about 
which is, that it allows the 
implement to be taken apart. Mr. D. finds this 
a convenience in loading the 
harrow into a cart, and it also 
allows it to be hung up out of 
the way when not in use. The 
cross-piece has a tenon at each 
end, which fits into a mortise 
upon the side-pieces. The side- 
piece has an iron eye at one 
end, which catches upon a 
hook at the end of the center- 
piece. A one-half-inch iron 
bolt, attached to a chain, passed through the 
tenon, holds the parts together securely. 
need not be told that we have done no little 
toward introducing the Chester County pigs 
throughout the United States. We think very 
highly of them. They are a strong, healthy, 
vigorous race of hogs, growing rapidly, and at- 
taining great size at maturity. They have done 
much toward improving our stock of common 
hogs. But it does not follow from this, that wo 
have attained perfection in pig-breeding. It is 
an undoubted fact that, as compared with the 
Essex, the so-called Suffolk, the Berkshire, the 
Yorkshire, or the Jefferson County breed, the 
Chester White, as usually exhibited, even by 
the best breeders, lacks refinement. As com- 
pared with these breeds, and more especially 
with the Essex, the Chester White is a large- 
boned, heavy-eared, coarse, thick-skinned hog. 
No one who sees the two breeds together would 
dispute this for a moment. Now, what " Walks 
and Talks " advocated was crossing grade 
Fig. 2.— SIDE OF HARROW. 
Chester White sows, or large common sows, 
with one of these highly-refined thorough-bred 
